New Business Plan - Am I Setting Myself Up for Failure?

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dust'n the callipygous

Well-known member
i had a very small production company last year in SC. i moved to Charlotte in october for a new job, and haven't done much video work since. i'm thinking about starting up a new production company here in charlotte, but with a different target. I used my old company for part-time work, whenever it would come along. i did pretty much whatever work i could get. it was all really small-scale jobs, and I'd get maybe one per month. most of the paying gigs i did were either weddings or concerts and events for the local school district--nothing fun.

so here's the idea for the new one:

i'll have a website hosting all of the content i (we) create. the content will be 2-3 minute clips of events, music, really anything going on in the area that i can get around to covering. i'm also thinking about hosting user-submitted videos. the site would have video sections for things like business, music, food, etc. this part would just be for content and to hopefully generate traffic.

the money part would come from getting companies to advertise. i'd have promotional videos, commercials, & music videos. i'd offer plans, starting with cheap unscripted 2-3 minute promo spots, and going up to full-on commercials. the big thing i'm thinking about is doing payment plans. since, the videos will be hosted on my site, and imbeded in the companies', they would be paying for advertising space. it would also be included as part of the production fee. for example: with the cheapest, unscripted promo piece, companies would pay $300 up front, and then $100/month for the next 12 months, for a total of $1500. this would include production of the video, as well as hosting. the other videos would work the same way, but obviously with much higher price points.

starting out i'd be pretty broke, but after a few months, if i booked enough work, the constant revenue stream could be pretty nice.

i'm thinking about partnering up with a friend of mine, and also bringing in my brother part-time on bigger gigs.

so, is this a good idea, or is there a reason video production companies aren't structured this way?
 
They are structured that way. The reason you don't see it is that it can only work while remaining completely local, which is limited, and it becomes more about finding what to report than the video. The video content would become a pretty minor part of the whole thing.

I've actually considered doing something extremely similar, but since I'm leaving the area in the next six months it wouldn't be a good in the long term.

That said, I think your revenue stream needs some serious thought. Why would people watch promotional videos, knowing that's what it is? You need to be subtle. Thank your sponsers, but up a banner ad, include a really brief mention before the videos, things like that. If you do otherwise your viewers will not consider it 'authentic' enough and may feel that the promotional material is overbearing, drowning out the regular content.

Also consider what clients would expect. What is your reach? How much is that worth? What level of production are you offering? Can they use it anywhere except your site? How targeted are you? What demographics visit your site? This is decided partly by how specialized you are and how you market the site itself. After that, the site can be used to market your production company, which will need to be separate. I'd recommend viewing the site more as a loss-leader for your production work rather than its own profitable endeavor. It may be profitable, but not for a long time and probably not very much.
 
Thanks for the comments. I know what you mean about using the site as a revenue source, or at least using that as part of the selling point. I know once I say it's hosted on our site for 12 months, the first thing the client would ask is "how many hits do you get?"

As far as promo videos go, I think they would be well integrated in with the rest f the content. It would be more about just showing what the company does than shameless self-promotion.

Here's a website very similar to what I have in mind: www.greenvillehd.com A guy in my hometown started it up right before I moved away. I'm just trying to do something like that, while finding a way to make money at it. I was thinking of it being like those free papers just about every city has now that showcase events and give insight into the community--but in video form.

Charlotte's also a much bigger area. That hopefully means more money to be made. Who else on here is in Charlotte?
 
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Maybe I shouldn't think of having companies advertise on my site (at least not unless I can generate a substantial amount of traffic), but instead host videos on my site and imbed them wherever the client likes. They could also use the videos wherever they like, just like any promotional piece or commercial.

The production value should be fairly high. We're shooting on two 7Ds, with a decent set of lenses. Audio will come from a boomed rode ntg3 or oktava mk012 running into a zoom h4n (unless wireless mics would be easier). We'll also overlay everything with music and simple graphics.

Am I going to be shooting myself in the foot targeting only the Charlotte area?
 
I know a person doing this. He is on the wicked side of poor and still lives with his mom in a run down apartment. He is currently about 6 years into and it doesn't look like its taking off any more now that it was then. If you want to do it go ahead, just go in full well knowing that you will spend alot of time on it and may get little to no return for quite a while.
 
N635DC said:
I know a person doing this. He is on the wicked side of poor and still lives with his mom in a run down apartment. He is currently about 6 years into and it doesn't look like its taking off any more now that it was then. If you want to do it go ahead, just go in full well knowing that you will spend alot of time on it and may get little to no return for quite a while.
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Which part of this is he doing unsuccessfully? I'm sure certain aspects of it could work well.
 
As a prospective client, why should I pay to have you host my site for when I can do it for free on Youtube? I think that's the potential problem.
 
I agree with that. That's what I revised in an earlier post. The hosting on my site would just be a bonus in that respect. It's turning more into a regular production company specializing in commercials, promos, and music videos. The website would then just feature this content as well as other videos we film in our spare time. Am I going to run short of work limiting myself like this, or do I need to expand the types of work?
 
Research the term I used, loss-leader strategy. If you provide content (regularly updated) on local event coverage and the like, you can really increase your chances of getting hired when people need video work done.
 
the question you should ask yourself, are you starting a web services business or a video production services business?

i think those are totally different things, and i'm a big fan of specialization.

(long read)
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if it's a web services business that targets businesses, this is one way that might work:

website purpose: Charlotte Business Directory
website name: go Charlotte! (preferably something more creative)

the site is categorized into: food, music/night life, groceries, etc. etc.

now, what separates you from the crowd would be: figure out a "template" for a video commercial that you think will be most beneficial to your clients (businesses) that communicates what they can do for whoever's looking for their services. this template shouldn't be an absolute script, rather a guideline. you'd probably have to do research (or buy research) in the following subjects: psychology, communication, language, film, advertising, etc. etc.

the point of this research is that you're going to provide empirical evidence to support your "template" and business model. for example, the research will help you answer the following:

do blondes or brunettes sell more chewing gum?
are men more receptive to a man telling them to buy a truck?
does holiday music really enhance the sales of Christmas trees?
what car accessories do people look for when buying a car?

of course, i'm not telling you to get a master's degree in behavioral science, just research that's a little thought out.

then you can say to businesses: "here i've got a website, these are the guidelines, this is how i designed it, and this is why. you're free to post a video about your business".

free, you say? yes free. because no one is going to give you money with ZERO hits (visits, circulation in print terms).

how do you get hits? when you have something on your site people are looking for.

so how do you make money? well, maybe you can offer the video production side of your business first. for an X amount of dollars, you can produce a video spot for your website. fair enough, good reel? sure, why not!

i strongly advise against charging the businesses money for hosting a small ad on your site. i don't think it's feasible, but i might be wrong.

where does the steady stream of revenue come from then? OTHER BUSINESSES! you can put banner ads on the site, just like any other site. you can localize them (probably). the only thing i'd do here is make sure that a banner's product is not competing with the video's product. you could probably get local businesses to advertise through the banners on a click per impression basis.

so what are you getting? banner revenue, possible video production revenue too.

what are businesses getting? exposure directly to the person who's looking for what they're selling. also, banner ads for people living in their area of business.

what are visitors getting? information about products/services right from the makers' mouth, so to speak.

if, and only if this is feasible and sustainable (which you'll know when you're researching your business plan), then i don't see why this couldn't be done on a national scale. maybe the facebook of business directories? i don't know, good luck.

but please, please keep these in mind when designing the site:

the design has to be slick.
it has to be easy to navigate.
it has to be fast.
it has to be reliable.
use flash only if it's better than ALL other options relating to the previous.
do not use small fonts.
make sure that it is as simple as can be.
don't fill it with nonsense that doesn't help but ruin everything for your business.
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another business model that might work would be to specialize. for example, figure out what types of businesses are underrepresented that you feel could benefit from more exposure?

for example, you could start a site called "Art Charlotte!" that targets 16-30 year old, and cover EVERYTHING that happens art-wise in the town, be it music, art galleries, art walks, etc. this might be a better option, since you're targeting a niche audience. it doesn't have to be journalistic, just a business directory focused on the "art" services.

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there are many, many things you could do with a website and a video camera, you just have to do your research. walk around town thinking about nothing but business, internet, and video cameras, and i'm sure you'll figure something out.

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The important things to remember:

-do your research and have a solid business plan. if you don't know how, learn it. if you can't, i strongly suggest you hire someone to do it for you.

-marketing: if no one wants what you want, you're not going to make money.
-advertising: if no one knows what you offer, you're not going to make money.
-finance: if you don't have enough money to support everything, you're not going to make money.
-management and maintenance: if your website crashes, is slow, fails to be updated in a timely manner, you're not going to make money.

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i hope this helps. i am a BIG fan of the internet for many reasons. i really hope this works out for you. here's an article you might find interesting:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/30/context-is-king-how-videos-found/


cheers!
 
Cassius said:
Research the term I used, loss-leader strategy. If you provide content (regularly updated) on local event coverage and the like, you can really increase your chances of getting hired when people need video work done.
Click to expand...

Very interesting!
 
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